Saturday, August 27, 2011

Winning! Yes, yes, I remember that feeling

Starting pitcher:
M.C. O'Connor

I'm handing out the RMC Croix de Awesomeness to Ramon Ramirez for his game-saving performance last night. He threw 23 pitches and got five huge outs, three of them the "grab some pine" variety. Madison Bumgarner crafted six scoreless but ran out of steam in the 7th and left with men on first and third with one out and one run in. Ol' Boch summoned Ramirez and he promptly struck out pinch-hitter Brian Bogusevic and got leadoff man Jordan Schafer to ground out to short. A three-up, three down 8th with two more strikeouts (the last one to get Carlos Lee looking was sweet) and the Giants got back to the winning formula. Nice to see Ramirez step up with a big effort after the blown save on Tuesday. Santiago Casilla again filled in admirably for Brian Wilson and closed it with an effortless 11 pitches. Jeff Keppinger won the clubhouse lottery for this week's extra-base hit with men on base. I was also happy to see Carlos Beltran look strong and healthy at the plate. His two hits, one walk, and a line drive out didn't figure in the scoring but certainly helped me feel better. The Giants--uncharacteristically--went out and got the best player available at the trade deadline. He's been terrible, and then injured, and now the rest of his season is a steaming pile of uncertainty. The baseball gods are cruel. When you get Shea Hillenbrand you should not be surprised when he plays like Shea Hillenbrand. But when you get Carlos Beltran it is reasonable to expect that he won't be Shea Hillenbrand. I make no claim to understand this game. I'm just happy when the Giants win. And I'm excited about seeing Eric Surkamp make his debut tonight. Let's hope they toss a few runs his way.

2 comments:

It's important for MadBum to be respectable. I know he's still young and has to work through some things, but I expect some day (soon) he'll be considered an elite pitcher, one of our major components.

Expecting a few runs is kind of out of the question. The giants need to shut teams out to have a good chance to win. If not for Aubrey Huff's errant throw, (no official error) and therefore (an earned run), giants would have gone home in 9 with a 1-0 victory. Instead he had to use the pen some more and walk away with another 201 victory. How long can this hitting quagmire continue. Some of these terrible hitting games have been vs. some of the worst pitchers in the majors, including marginal starters and relievers.